Hipsters are a subculture of men and women typically in their 20's and 30's that value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation of art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter. The greatest concentrations of hipsters can be found living in the Williamsburg, Wicker Park, and Mission District neighborhoods of major cosmopolitan centers such as New York, Chicago, and San Francisco respectively. Although "hipsterism" is really a state of mind,it is also often intertwined with distinct fashion sensibilities. Hipsters reject the culturally-ignorant attitudes of mainstream consumers, and are often be seen wearing vintage and thrift store inspired fashions, tight-fitting jeans, old-school sneakers, and sometimes thick rimmed glasses. Both hipster men and women sport similar androgynous hair styles that include combinations of messy shag cuts and asymmetric side-swept bangs. Such styles are often associated with the work of creative stylists at urban salons, and are usually too "edgy" for the culturally-sheltered mainstream consumer. The "effortless cool" urban bohemian look of a hipster is exemplified in Urban Outfitters and American Apparel ads which cater towards the hipster demographic. Despite misconceptions based on their aesthetic tastes, hipsters tend to be well educated and often have liberal arts degrees, or degrees in maths and sciences, which also require certain creative analytical thinking abilities. Consequently many hipsters tend to have jobs in the music, art, and fashion industries. It is a myth that most hipsters are unemployed and live off of their parent's trust funds.
Hipsters shun mainstream societal conventions that apply to dating preferences and traditional "rules" of physical attraction. It is part of the hipster central dogma not to be influenced by mainsream advertising and media, which tends to only promote ethnocentric ideals of beauty. The concepts of androgyny and feminism have influenced hipster culture, where hipster men are often as thin as the women they date. The muscular and athletic all-American male ideal is not seen as attractive by confident and culturally-empowered hipster women who instead view them as symbols of male oppression, sexism, and misogyny. Likewise, culturally-vapid sorority-type girls with fake blond hair, overly tanned skin, and "Britney Spears tube-tops" are not seen as attractive by cultured hipster males who instead see them as symbols of female insecurity, low self-esteem, and lack of cultural intelligence and independent thinking. Hipsters are also very racially open-minded, and the greatest number of interracial couples in any urban environment are typically found within the hipster subculture.
Although hipsters are technically conformists within their own subculture, in comparison to the much larger mainstream mass, they are pioneers and leaders of the latest cultural trends and ideals. For example, the surge of jeans made to look old and worn (i.e. "distressed"), that have become prevalent at stores such as The Gap, American Eagle, Abercrombie and Fitch, and Hollister, were originally paraded by hipsters who shopped in thrift stores years before such clothing items were mass produced and sold to the mainstream consumer. The true irony here is that many of the detractors of hipster culture are in fact unknowingly following a path that hipsters have carved out years before them. This phenomena also applies to music as well, as many bands have become successful and known to mainstream audiences only because hipsters first found and listened to them as early-adopters of new culture. Once certain concepts of fashion and music have reached mainstream audiences, hipsters move on to something new and improved.
Because of the rise of various online photo-blog and social networking sites, insights into urban hipster culture is reaching sheltered suburban audiences at an exponential rate. Cultural "norms" have been deconstructed by hipster culture as a whole. Hipsterism is often dismissed as just an image thing by some, but the culture as a whole is effecting changes in society, leading to feelings of insecurity and resentment in people who are no longer a part of the cultural ruling class. For example, a lot of anti-hipster sentiment evidently comes from culturally-clueless suburban frat boy types who feel that the more sensitive, intelligent, and culturally aware hipster ideal threatens their insecure sense of masculinity. Anti-hipster sentiment often comes from people who simply can't keep up with social change and are envious of those who can.

A conversation outside a hipster bar in downtown NYC:

Frat Boy #1: Dude, are you having any luck picking up chicks in there?

Frat Boy #2: Man...I haven't experienced anything like this before. These chicks are totally rejecting me and going for all these hipster guys in tight pants and shaggy hair instead.

Frat Boy #1: Maybe we should head back up to that bar in Murry Hill where you hooked up with that drunk b*tch from Alpha Sigma Phi last week?

Frat Boy #2: Yeah...I don't think we have what it takes to compete with these guys in here. These hipster chicks won't even give us the time of the day!

Liberal 20 something men and women who drink coffee in independently run cafes, drink in dive bars, listen to any awful piece of shit band that isn't popular or even good, and watch foreign "films" all the while condemning anything held popular by the average consumer or "gullible sheeple."

They believe that because they dress in thrift store rags, took a few political science classes, and enjoy modern art (aka: $1000 finger paintings) that somehow this makes them better than the rest of society. They often have an extremely lofty opinion of themselves and their opinions to the point of unbelievable arrogance.

1. The author of the first/most popular definition is a prime example of a hipster douche bag.

1. Hipsters think Bon Jovi from the 80's is so awesome.
3. Hipster: "Oh my God! I just love these butt ugly pink sunglasses!"
4. Hipster: "Let's all go play kickball, and wear short shorts and headbands!"

Conformist non-conformists who think by all following the same subculture they're uniquie and original. Usually found listening to Grizzly Bear, Passion Pit, Modest Mouse, Radiohead, Wilco, and the Flaming Lips with oversized headphones or on a vintage record player they picked up as soon as their favorite blogger told them how much greater they sound than CD's or digital downloads. Dress like hobos, even though they are mostly college-educated upper middle class yuppies with a trust fund. Go to great lengths to be viewed as original.

Those who turn their skinny-jean-encased-knees inward in order to look awkward. Wearing large black glasses with no lenses in order to take digital photographs then manipulate the photographs using photoshop. Those who wear Toms. These are common accessories of the every day ambient hipster.
The guy next to you who wears his headphones around his neck and blasts some obscure band that he will claim you don't know about is a hipster. Notice his skin tight V neck shirt. Vintage clothing ensues. A hipster will most likely never associate him or herself with the word hipster. In fact, he or she may raise their cigarette scented voice in anger in the fact that you are calling them a hipster. This shouldn't scare you because they are, of course, all pacifists and wouldn't dare lay a finger on you. That would dirty up their brand new self designed Toms.

"I don't give two cares what you think, I'm going to be a photographer. I'm going to be a fashion model, in France. I'm going to sit in my room, sip on black tea, and listen to my favorite boy sing my favorite songs. My eyes will be large, and my hair will be long before it becomes very very short. I'm going to take a roadtrip to Elizabethtown, and take polariods at every stop on the way. These are common hipster facebook about me's.

I will be as old fashioned as I want to be, and I'm going to change your life, in ten days or less."

A continuation of the Bohemian "tradition" originating in France around the turn of the 20th Century. These folks were anti-bourgeois, anti-Victorian, and anti-traditionalist. They were avant-garde artists who disdained what they considered ordinary but ended up in a futile cycle of radical change for the sake of change soon drifting into silliness and nihilism.

The Beat Generation and then the Hippie movement tried to pick up this stand of thought and way of life in the mid twentieth century. The existential hero who is cool and detached, not caring what anyone else thinks of him is also a mid century fashion that picked up on this theme.

The cool hipster assumes a persona of crass selfishness, irresponsibility, mindless rebellion, cynicism, ironic mocking of anything meaningful or noble, cold reserve, uncaring indifference toward others while paradoxically advocating a politics of compassion toward certain groups favored by leftists, a dull, dumb countenance, and most of all, being constantly out of sorts--a real sour puss. They usually take on a studied disheveled appearance to further the affection of not caring what others think of them. They also prefer to dress in black.

Of course, most of these folks are as phony as you can get. They look as though they are dead on the inside--enthusiasm or being earnest or being genuine are completely missing from their emotional repertoire. They shun kindness,loyalty, spirituality, or empathy as uncool.

"Man, like, I dig myself and fuck you, man, like."--An example of a hipster sentence. Complete sentences, of sorts, are few and far between for these folks who are too cool to talk in coherent language.